2026 Autumn Budget: Industry reactions

Comment on success of new bank tax being dependent on convincing them it’s temporary, WTS UK International Tax practice partner Christopher Austin said: “Banks are a politically easy target. The Chancellor has announced that the bank surcharge will double from 3% to 6% for 15 months, raising £1.5bn. This has been welcomed by the banks who expected worse. The Budget documents are clear that it won’t be extended, but that will ultimately be a decision for a future Budget. If fiscal headroom is still tight, extending it would be an easy option.

“Yet the Chancellor knows banks are essential to economic growth. He has tried to thread the needle – taxing banks to meet a public demand and help to plug the fiscal gap, without deterring the investment he wants them to make.

“Whether he has succeeded depends on whether banks believe the measure really is temporary. If they don’t, there is a real risk that banks shift investment to lower-tax jurisdictions. And there’s still the question of who ultimately pays: bank shareholders, or customers through higher borrowing rates and lower savings rates.”

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Comment on missed opportunity to reform planned inheritance tax, WTS UK Private Client partner Roger Holman said: “Keeping the £20,000 ISA allowance is a positive step and should support saving. However, the absence of any change to the planned inheritance tax treatment of pensions is a missed opportunity, and a reform there would have been the better outcome.”

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Comment on the starter ISA and support for new investors, Roger Holman said: “It is good to see encouragement for ‘new investors’ with a starter ISA – but this will only help those who can afford to invest. So far, this budget is for pensioners and investors, but still nothing for the underemployed youth of our nations.”

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Comment on the Chancellor’s decision to protect the State Pension from income tax and how many will fall outside the change, Holman added: “Protecting the State Pension from income tax is welcome, but it should only help pensioners whose sole income is the basic or new State Pension, so many will fall outside it. And if the government is willing to shield pensioners from the squeeze, why aren’t graduates getting the same protection in a cost of living crisis?”

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Comment on impact of VAT changes to online platforms/for high street retailers, WTS UK Indirect Tax partner David Bearman said: “In practice, this means platforms such as eBay and Amazon, rather than the business selling through them, will charge the VAT on each sale and pay it to HMRC. Private individuals selling unwanted items are not affected.

“In general, this should be positive for high street retailers and levels the playing field. A shop has always had to charge VAT on what it sells, while some online sellers have undercut them by not charging it. Making the platform collect the tax closes much of that gap.

“The open question is sellers under the £90,000 registration limit. If the threshold is applied per platform, a business trading on three or four sites could still sit below it on each one, and part of the original problem remains.”

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Comment on VAT requirements for online platforms and issues with tracking below registration limit, David Bearman said: “The extension of the requirement for online platforms to collect VAT was widely expected. The challenge is how to address traders below the VAT registration limit using multiple platforms.”

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Comment on why changes to property taxes threaten success of REIT regime, WTS UK Real Assets partner Rob Williams said: “The UK’s REIT regime has been a real success story for the UK property sector, particularly with relaxations to the regime in 2022 and 2023 resulting in a proliferation of new REITs being established in recent years. It is therefore disappointing to see a further 2% increase in the withholding rate on property income distributions, which reduces the attractiveness of the regime.”

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Comment on tariff suspension + big decision for retailers, WTS UK Customs and Global Trade partner Brad Ashton said: “The tariff suspension on food products has the potential to help ease the pressure on household budgets. But not only is this a temporary move, its effectiveness lives and dies on whether or not retailers and importers pass the savings on to consumers.

“For Northern Ireland (NI), the impact of the UK’s food tariff suspensions is likely to be more limited and more complex than in Great Britain as NI continues to operate under special post-Brexit trading arrangements that keep it aligned with many EU customs and goods rules.”

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Comment on new Entrepreneurs Allowance, Roger Holman said: “Interesting to hear about the new Entrepreneurs Allowance to fund a year of living costs – at last something to help at the beginning of the business cycle, rather than relief provided at the end when the business is successful and being sold. It’s unlikely to be enough to encourage more risk taking in the UK, but it is a step in the right direction.”

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Comment on the two key questions remaining around paternity leave payments, Roger Holman said: “Paternity leave for self-employed fathers is a long-awaited step towards closing the gap between employed and self-employed workers, extending support to households with a new baby. Two questions remain: how pay will be calculated, and whether this becomes another household-based measure like the High Income Child Benefit Charge.”

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Comment on disappointment of no announcement for roadmap to replace Stamp Duty, Rob Williams said: “There has been much talk about the possibility of replacing Stamp Duty, Business Rates and Council Tax with a single, fairer land tax. A radical change like this was never going to be possible overnight but it is disappointing to see that the Chancellor has not announced a roadmap to transition or even a consultation on this today, instead preferring to focus on targeted changes to Council Tax and Business Rates.”

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Comment on foreign sovereigns being brought into the charge to UK tax, Rob Williams said: “One of the biggest surprises in today’s Budget was the announcement of the intention to bring foreign sovereigns into the charge to UK tax from 2029. Given the scale of investment foreign sovereigns make into the UK, the government risks shooting itself in the foot by driving away such investment with taxing UK trading and property income and gains going forward.”

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Comment on potential increase in corporation tax burden for businesses given reduction in the main rate writing down allowance, Rob Williams said: “With full expensing being maintained, the reduction in the main rate writing down allowance from 14% to 12% from April 2027 should have little impact on new investment. Instead, it will increase the corporation tax burden on businesses that invested heavily in qualifying expenditure prior to the introduction of the full expensing regime.”

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Comment on government’s apparent reluctance to encourage overseas investment into the UK, Roger Holman said: “The Government is willing to spend public money on investment in the UK, yet it seems reluctant to encourage overseas investors to do the same. It’s disappointing not to see an investor visa in place. There should be a clear route to attract wealthy investors from abroad.”

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Comment on the impact of the budget on wealth and private clients, Bentley Reid tax director Anna Warren said: “John Healey’s Budget saw a reduction in Business Asset Disposal Relief from £1m to £500k. This will mean it will now only be worth £30k to ‘entrepreneurs’.

“The conditions for the new ‘Founders Relief’ (currently only in consultation form) suggest that it will be very difficult for anyone to actually get in practice and therefore with the reduction in BADR this will not be the boost that entrepreneurs were hoping for.”

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Comment on the Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR) threshold, Vail Williams partner and Business Rates Advice head said: “Businesses will need to avoid assuming that a rateable value below £18,000 automatically guarantees a business rates saving. The full eligibility criteria, treatment of businesses occupying multiple properties and implementation arrangements will need to be checked first against the published guidance.”